Official business style is a style that serves the legal and administrative and public spheres of activity. It is used when writing documents, business papers and letters in government agencies, courts, as well as in different types business oral communication.
Among the book styles, the official business style stands out for its relative stability and isolation. Over time, it naturally undergoes some changes, but many of its features: historically established genres, specific vocabulary, morphology, syntactic phrases - give it a generally conservative character.
The official business style is characterized by dryness, the absence of emotionally charged words, conciseness, and compactness of presentation.
In official papers, the set of linguistic means used is predetermined. The most striking feature of the official business style is linguistic cliches, or so-called cliches (French. clich). A document is not expected to show the individuality of its author; on the contrary, the more clichéd a document is, the more convenient it is to use (see examples of clichés below)
Formal business style– this is the style of documents of different genres: international treaties, state acts, legal laws, resolutions, charters, instructions, official correspondence, business papers, etc. But, despite the differences in content and variety of genres, the official business style as a whole is characterized by common and most important features. These include:
1) accuracy, excluding the possibility of other interpretations;
2) locale standard.
These features find their expression a) in the selection of linguistic means (lexical, morphological and syntactic); b) in the preparation of business documents.
Let's consider the features of vocabulary, morphology and syntax of the official business style.
§2. Linguistic signs of official business style of speech
Lexical features of official business style of speech
The lexical (dictionary) system of the official business style, in addition to general book and neutral words, includes:
1) language stamps (bureaucracy, clichés) : raise a question based on a decision, incoming and outgoing documents, control over execution is assigned upon expiration of the deadline.
2) professional terminology : arrears, alibi, black cash, shadow business;
3) archaisms : I certify this document.
In an official business style, the use of polysemantic words, as well as words with figurative meanings, is unacceptable, and synonyms are used extremely rarely and, as a rule, belong to the same style: supply = supply = collateral, solvency = creditworthiness, depreciation = depreciation, appropriation = subsidy and etc.
Official business speech reflects not individual, but social experience, as a result of which its vocabulary is extremely generalized. In an official document, preference is given to generic concepts, for example: to arrive (instead of arrive, arrive, arrive etc.), vehicle (instead of bus, plane, Zhiguli etc.), locality(instead of village, town, village etc.) etc.
Morphological characteristics of an official business style of speech
The morphological features of this style include the repeated (frequency) use of certain parts of speech (and their types). These include the following:
1) nouns - names of people based on a characteristic determined by the action ( taxpayer, tenant, witness);
2) nouns denoting positions and titles in the masculine form ( Sergeant Petrova, inspector Ivanova);
3) verbal nouns with a particle Not-(deprivation, non-compliance, non-recognition);
4) derived prepositions ( in connection with, due to, by virtue of, to the extent of, in relation to, on the basis of);
5) infinitive constructions: ( conduct an inspection, provide assistance);
6) present tense verbs in the meaning of a commonly performed action ( behind non-payment will be subject to a fine…).
7) compound words formed from two or more stems ( tenant, employer, logistics, repair and maintenance, above, below and so on.).
The use of these forms is explained by the desire of business language to accurately convey meaning and unambiguous interpretation.
Syntactic features of official business style of speech
The syntactic features of the official business style include:
1) consumption simple sentences with homogeneous members, and the rows of these homogeneous members can be very common (up to 8–10), for example: ... fines as an administrative penalty may be established in accordance with Russian legislation for violation of safety and labor protection rules in industry, construction, transport and agriculture;
2) the presence of passive structures ( payments are made at the specified time);
3) stringing genitive case, i.e. use of a chain of nouns in the genitive case: ( results of the activities of the tax police authorities…);
4) the predominance of complex sentences, especially complex sentences, with conditional clauses: If there is a dispute about the amount of amounts due to the dismissed employee, the administration is obliged to pay the compensation specified in this article if the dispute is resolved in favor of the employee.
Official business style in texts. Examples
Every modern man at least once in my life I was faced with the need to write a text in an official business style. This is due modern requirements to communication between legal entities, individuals and government agencies, or individuals and legal entities. Simply put, when contacting an organization as a representative of another organization or as an individual, you will be forced to write text in an official business style.
One of the most common types of texts in business style is commercial proposal.
Send a request to write a text in a business style to: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
So as not to burden you with writing rules official business texts, let's look at a couple of examples right away.
Example of business text 1. Postponement.
To the director of LLC "..."
Kuznetsov N. S.
Dear Nikolai Sergeevich!
On January 12, we received a commercial proposal from you, in which you offer our company regular supplies of metal for projects implemented by our company.
Our management has reviewed your conditions and is ready to conclude an agreement of intent and, in the future, a cooperation agreement with you. The only obstacle to fruitful cooperation may be the impossibility of supplying rolled metal with deferred payment, which you refuse to provide to us.
We ask you to once again consider the possibility of providing a deferment for large-volume shipments! Otherwise, we will be forced to look for partners for regular supplies of rolled metal products among your competitors.
Sincerely,
Head of the commercial department Petryakova I.I.
Business text example 2. Claim
In March current year our company has entered into an agreement with you for the manufacture and installation plastic windows for equipment office premises. Total there were 48 windows, the contract amount was 593,000 rubles.
Following the agreement, the windows had to be installed before September 1st. To date, only a third of the work has been completed, despite full payment from our side.
Considering that our company has fully fulfilled its payment obligations, we demand as soon as possible complete the window installation work in full, as well as eliminate the shortcomings described in previously sent claims, by November 1, or return the money to us for uncompleted work. We also intend to demand compensation for the damage caused.
In case your company fails to fulfill its obligations under the contract, or in case of refusal to return Money and payment of compensation, we will appeal to the court of the Russian Federation, and also file a complaint with the Prosecutor of the Russian Federation at the location of your company.
See other examples below after reading the rules for writing text in a business style.
Rules for writing business text
Now you can get acquainted with the rules. So, from the examples it is clear that the main rule of a business text is to preserve business style. What is “business style” in texts? This is, first of all, brevity of presentation, lack of emotion and facts.
In a business text, it is unacceptable to use emotionally charged expressions and colloquial expressions.
The first thing to remember when starting to write a business text in an official style is that your task is to summarize the essence of what you want to write as briefly as possible. Be it a complaint about someone’s actions (or inaction), a request for assistance, a claim, a demand, or something else.
The official business style is most often used in business to draw up commercial proposals, but in private life we often have to present it in a business style when it comes to communicating with government agencies, or about the emerging conflict situation, for example, when purchasing a low-quality product.
For texts in a business style, it is customary to use certain words, which is clearly visible in all the examples given.
“Following”, “considering”, “we ask you to consider the opportunity”, “we ask you to assist”, etc. The set of these phrases depends on the situation, and of course, you must learn to intuitively feel when to use the phrase “we ask you” and when “we demand”.
Other examples of texts in business style
Diverse. In each life situation There are certain standards of communication. In the official sphere, there are also specific norms that sometimes run counter to the general linguistic norms. This is a feature of the official business style. It is dry and insipid, all the turns in it are unambiguous and constant.
Formal business style: definition
Official business style is a style of business management and legislative acts that has been formed over many years. His characteristic feature constancy in the use of the same words and lexical phrases is considered.
Which every person periodically encounters in his life should be understandable and unambiguous. In addition, all its genres are written according to the same templates. Sometimes, to get a new document, it is enough to simply rewrite 2-3 words.
Stylistic features
Like anyone else, he has his own characteristic features. The official business style in business texts is characterized by accuracy and unambiguity of presentation, an obligatory-prescriptive character, complete impersonality, the absence of any emotional manifestations, standardization and stereotyping.
Any document should be interpreted in only one way. Therefore, all the data presented in it is unambiguous, because otherwise means confusion and lawlessness in any matter.
Since it is a business style, it is used to regulate the official sphere of human life and society. Everything that is stated in it must be fulfilled unquestioningly.
There cannot be any personal characteristics or subjective interpretations in the documents. Therefore, the official business style of the Russian literary language allows the presentation of personal information only in minor documents such as a statement or an explanatory statement to argue the need for a particular action.
The unambiguity of the presentation also translates into a high degree of stereotyping. It is present at all levels of style: from a set of lexemes to general structure the entire document.
Vocabulary of style
Like any other, the official business style in business texts uses a standard set of lexemes and phrases. First of all, these are words from the industry of official communication: prescribe, authorize, notify, plaintiff, head, law and the like. In other styles they are used much less frequently.
The second characteristic feature is the use of constant expressions and cliches of speech. This makes any text predictable, but at the same time completely unambiguous: based on, taking into account, in accordance with.
It is noteworthy that, despite the high level of impersonality, the use of first-person pronouns and verbs is allowed in an official business style. In comparison, in a scientific style this is completely unacceptable.
And the last feature is the presence of dry, slightly outdated clerical vocabulary, which in other styles sounds inappropriate and somewhat comical: takes place, is in a state alcohol intoxication, a liquid similar in appearance to cognac.
Syntactic constructions
Based on the consistency of syntactic structures, each person can easily determine the official business style. Examples of it are well known to everyone from the school. And probably more than once in my life I had to write a statement or protocol.
At the syntactic level, first of all, the presence of small constructions, simple sentences, and a minimum number of complications, such as homogeneous sentence parts or inserted constructions, are noted. This is dictated by the need for simplicity and unambiguity in understanding the information presented in the document.
At the text level, there is a high level of standardization of its structure. For example, each statement begins with a header in the upper right corner, which indicates who is addressing whom. Next comes the text of the application itself, which ends with the date and signature of the applicant. The upper left corner of the document is left to overlay the resolution on this application. The same standardization is typical for all other genres.
Applications
It is quite widespread and can be encountered by any person all the time. Therefore, this style is divided into several substyles, depending on the industry of application.
Legislative documents are used to form legal framework society. It prescribes the rules by which every person subject to the influence of this particular document must live. Legislative acts also establish penalties for failure to comply with regulations.
The jurisdictional branch detects a violation and imposes punishment for it. This is also where cases are reviewed in connection with certain evidence or circumstances.
The administrative official business style is very common. Examples of such documents are even studied in school curriculum. This includes documents regulating the activities of individual organizations and their interaction with individual individuals.
And the last branch is diplomatic. Relations between states depend on the correctness of documentation in this area. One wrong comma or word can cause a global conflict.
Genres
In practice, the official business style of speech has a wide variety of examples of texts. It would be quite problematic to name absolutely all genres in one article. Therefore, we will focus on the most popular of them, dividing them into groups depending on the industry of use.
Legislative documents include a law, act, decision, decree. They are compiled on higher levels authorities by specially trained people.
In the field of jurisprudence, the genres of official business style in the Russian language are represented by verdicts, court decisions, cassation appeals, search or detention warrants.
Administrative documents are among the most common. This includes a statement, autobiography, order, recommendation, fax, telephone message, receipt and many others.
In diplomacy, treaties, pacts, agreements, and conventions are most often used.
Business management
Much has already been said about how rich the official business style is in genres. Examples of their use are found all the time. This is an active style, used everywhere in Everyday life. Most often, an ordinary person encounters it in the business sector. When applying for a job, we write a resume, autobiography and application, and submit certificates from the previous place of work.
Basically, all these documents have approximately the same structure. They begin with an indication of the author who compiled this text, followed by a presentation of the material, which is certified by a signature and seal, if any.
Generalization
In Russian philology, the official business style of a document, language, speech has an active nature of use. It is highly standardized and has a certain set of words and expressions that are used contrary to some laws of the language.
For example, tautologies are not a stylistic error, since they contribute to an unambiguous understanding, which cannot be achieved by using pronouns for a more beautiful literary sound.
Every person in his life must be able to use this style, since it regulates the interaction of the individual with the organization, the state and the entire legal world as a whole.
The official business style is used in the field of business and official relations between people and institutions, in the field of law and legislation. Official business speech is characterized by precision of formulation (which would eliminate ambiguity of understanding), some impersonality and dryness of presentation (it is brought up for discussion, not we bring it up for discussion; cases of non-fulfillment of the contract are noted, etc.), high degree standardization, reflecting a certain order and regulation of business relations.
In connection with these properties of the official business style, stable, clichéd phrases play a big role in it: to impute a duty, due to absence, to take measures, for lack of it, after the expiration of a deadline, etc. A striking sign of business style are combinations with verbal nouns: establishing control, eliminating deficiencies, implementing a program, checking execution, etc.
A significant number of speech genres are distinguished here: law, resolution, communiqué, diplomatic note, treaty, instruction, announcement, report, explanatory note, complaint, statement, different kinds judicial investigative documentation, indictment, examination report, verdict, etc.
It is also necessary to take into account the conditions of communication, which in the business sphere determine the appearance of such a typical feature of the official business style as standardization (pattern, form). Since in legal relations everything is regulated, and communication is carried out according to certain standards that facilitate this communication, to the extent that the speech standard, the pattern, turns out to be inevitable, necessary and even expedient and justified.
Due to the obligatory prescriptive nature and the need to formulate legal norms Business speech also has a special way of presentation. Narration, reasoning and description are not presented here in their “pure” form.
Since in the texts of state acts it is usually necessary not to prove something (analysis and argumentation precedes the compilation of these texts), but to establish and regulate, then these texts, in general, are not characterized by reasoning. The absence of this method sharply distinguishes the official business style from the scientific one, which is similar in a number of other features. This method of presentation, as a narrative, is also not typical for the business sphere of communication, since there is no need to talk about any events. Only in such genres as a protocol, a report, partly an agreement, and some parts of a resolution (statements) is there an appeal to a narrative style of presentation.
There are almost no “pure” descriptions in business speech. What looks outwardly like a description actually turns out to be a special prescriptive-statistical way of presentation, in which, for example, behind the present tense forms of the verb there is a subtext of obligation.
The official business style is divided into two varieties, two substyles - official-documentary and everyday business.
Each of the subtypes of official business style is unique. For example, the language of diplomacy has its own lexical system, rich in international terms (communiqué, attache, doyen); it uses etiquette words (king, queen, prince, Shahinshah, His Highness, His Excellency, etc.); The syntax of the language of diplomacy is characterized by long sentences, extended periods with branched conjunctions, with participles and participial phrases, infinitive constructions, introductory and isolated expressions.
The language of laws is official language, language state power, in which she speaks to the population. It requires precision in the expression of thoughts, generality, a complete lack of individualization of speech, and standard presentation.
Official correspondence is characterized, first of all, by high standardization. The existence of models and their speech variants, i.e. standards, greatly facilitates the preparation of business letters. Business letters they are composed, not written. Brevity and accuracy are also necessary attributes of business letters.
Business papers (application, autobiography, receipt, etc.) should also be written briefly and clearly. They are compiled in a certain form.
Linguistic features of official business style
Vocabulary. 1. The lexical system of the official business style includes, in addition to common and neutral words, words and set phrases that have the connotation of an official business style. For example: proper, above, forwarded, recipient, present (meaning “this”).
- 2. The second feature of the lexical system of the official business style is the presence in it large quantity words belonging to professional (legal and diplomatic) terminology. For example: legislation, conduct, act, powers, collection, entity, recall, review.
- 3. The vocabulary of official business style is characterized by complete absence slang, colloquial words, dialectisms and words with emotionally expressive overtones.
- 4. A feature of this style is also the presence of stable phrases of an attributive-nominal type with an official business character: appeal, lump sum allowance, established order (usually in the prepositional case: “in the established order”), preliminary consideration, conviction, acquittal.
- 5. The specificity of the lexical system of the official business style is the presence in it of archaisms, as well as historicisms. Archaisms: this, that, such, assurance of respect. Historicisms: His Excellency, Your Majesty. The named lexical units are found in certain genres of official business documents, for example, historicisms - in government notes.
- 6. From a number of synonyms in the official business style, words are always selected that express the will of the legislator, such as, for example, decree, oblige, prohibit, permit, etc., but not say, advise.
- 7. Many of the words of the official business style appear in antonymous pairs: rights - duties, plaintiff - defendant, democracy - dictatorship, prosecutor - lawyer, accusatory - acquittal. Note that these are not contextual, but rather linguistic antonyms.
Morphology. 1. Among the nouns, names of people are used in an official business style based on a characteristic determined by some action or attitude; for example: tenant, tenant, adoptive parent, plaintiff, defendant.
- 2. Nouns denoting positions and ranks are used here only in the masculine form: witness Ivanova, police officer Sidorova.
- 3. Verbal nouns are widely represented: exile, deprivation, execution, finding, liberation; among them special place occupied by verbal nouns with the prefix non-: non-fulfillment, non-compliance, non-recognition.
- 4. To avoid inaccuracies, the noun is not replaced by a pronoun and is repeated even in a nearby sentence.
- 5. The “morphological sign” of the official business style is the use of complex denominative prepositions: for purposes, in relation to, on the subject, in force, in part, etc. Their stylistic coloring is revealed when compared with simple prepositions and conjunctions involved in the formalization of similar relations ; compare: for the purpose of preparation - to prepare, for preparation; due to violation - due to violation.
- 6. In the official business style, the highest percentage of infinitives is observed among the functional styles of the Russian language compared to other verbal forms. Often this ratio reaches 5:1, while in scientific speech it is 1:5.
This quantitative increase in the share of the infinitive is associated with the goal of most official business documents - to express the will, the establishment of the legislator.
7. Of the conjugated forms, the present tense forms are most often used here, but with a different meaning compared to the scientific style. This meaning is defined as "present prescription", as opposed to "present timeless", which is common in scientific style.
Syntax. 1. Of the syntactic constructions that have the coloring of an official business style, we note phrases that include complex denominative prepositions: in part, along the line, on the subject, in order to avoid, as well as a combination with the preposition by and prepositional case, expressing a temporary meaning: upon return, upon reaching.
- 2. The need for detailed presentation and reservations explains the complication of simple sentences with numerous isolated phrases, homogeneous members, often lined up in a long chain of points. This entails an increase in the size of a sentence (including a simple one) to several hundred word uses.
- 3. The percentage of complex sentences is relatively low, especially with subordinate clauses; the number of means of expressing logic and consistency of presentation in business speech is three times less than in scientific speech. Characteristic, however, is the widespread use of conditional constructions, since many texts (codes, charters, instructions) require stipulating the conditions of offenses and law and order.
- 4. In many genres of official business texts, infinitive constructions with the meaning of must are widely represented, for example: The specified decisions must be announced to the public.
- 5. The syntax of the official business style is characterized by “stringing the genitive case,” i.e. the use of complex phrases with several dependent components in the genitive case form without a preposition.
- 6. The official business style, like the scientific one, is also characterized by an objective word order, and
Grammatical features of official business style
A comparison of business, scientific, journalistic (newspaper) and literary texts allows us to highlight some grammatical features of the official business style:
1. Predominant use of simple sentences (usually narrative, personal, general, complete). Interrogative and exclamatory sentences practically never occur. Of the one-part ones, only impersonal ones are actively used and in some types of documents (orders, official letters) - definitely personal ones: For the purpose of... it is necessary to highlight...; In case... it will be necessary to reduce...; I order...; Draw your attention to...
From complex sentences non-union and complex subordinate clauses with subordinate explanatory, attributive, conditional, reasons and goals, as well as constructions like... fulfilled contractual conditions are more common, which allows... Widespread use of constructions with denominate prepositions (In the order of supervision...; In connection with refusal...; ...due to under-delivery of materials) allows you to avoid the use of complex sentences with subordinate clauses of reason, purpose, conditionals. Subordinate clauses of place and time are generally rarely used.
Sometimes, after reading the next contract, you understand why it is customary to use specially trained people to work with them. This happens due to the peculiarities of the official business style, making it difficult to understand. But this manner of presentation also has its advantages, otherwise its use would have been abandoned long ago.
Signs of an official business style of speech
Of course, for us, the main indicators of the officiality of a document are the seal of the organization and the signature of the person in charge, but when it comes to the style of speech, completely different signs come to the fore.
- Objectivity, information content and reliability.
- The absence of words that can be interpreted in two ways.
- Impeccable construction of phrases and documents from a legal point of view.
- Conciseness of wording, the desire for maximum brevity, the use of complex sentences with frequent use of complex conjunctions and verbal nouns.
- Neutrality of presentation, lack of emotional coloring, preference for direct word order, almost complete neglect of individualization of style.
- The use of speech cliches when constructing phrases.
- Using standard phrases to describe typical situations.
- Logic of presentation, its narrative character.
All these features of the official business style of speech make it the most closed and stable among all book styles. Time brings its changes to this language, but the main points - phraseological units, specific speech and syntactic turns - remain unchanged. In other styles of speech, the use of cliches has long been considered a disadvantage, but in formal conversations they are welcome. Actually, this kind of templated text, combined with a lack of emotional coloring and a large number of enumerations, which are also a sign of the official style, is what makes documents so difficult to read and.
The purpose of the formal business style of speech
At first glance, all this linguistic inertia and conservatism were invented to emphasize the isolation of business from other spheres of life. As a result, the average person receives headache from trying to understand all the intricacies, and is forced to pay money to specialists.
On the one hand, this is true, a number of specialists (document specialists, lawyers, archivists) are partly translators from official business speech to colloquial speech, understandable to the majority of the population. But you shouldn’t look for the tenacious clutches of a global conspiracy here, because on the other hand, the official business style of speech is designed to minimize the likelihood of errors and simplify work with various kinds of documentation. In colloquial speech, we often use expressions with strong emotional overtones, love ambiguity, often use argot and do not disdain irony. Can you imagine what, for example, a supply agreement written spoken language? On compliance with delivery deadlines, liability for violation of the agreement and the conformity of the delivered goods 
ordered could be forgotten. That is, a special style of presentation for official papers was created to exclude the possibility of speculation and different interpretations of information depending on the education of the people working with them. And to speed up work with various kinds of documents, drafting standards have been invented. Everything is regulated: from the location of the details to the order in which the address is written on the envelope. This allows you to quickly find the information you need without revising the entire document. For example, an accountant paying for the rental of premises is only interested in the terms of payment, details and duration of the contract. The clear structure of the document allows you to quickly access this information; otherwise, the time for processing the contract would greatly increase.
Loading...